This is about the stage musical. For the film adaptation, see DuBarry Was a Lady (1943 film).
DuBarry Was a Lady is a comic stage musical.
Cast[]
- Bert Lahr - Louis Blore/King Louis XIV
- Ethel Merman - May Daly/Madame Du Barry
- Betty Grable - Alice Barton/Madame de Vernay
- Benny Baker - Charley
- Jean Moorehead - Vi Hennessey/Mme. La Duchesse de Villardel
- Charles Walters - Harry Norton/Captain of King's Guard
- Ronald Graham - Alex Barton
- Harold Cromer - Florian/Zamore
Plot[]
A washroom attendant, Louis Blore, has won a sweepstakes, and subsequently quits his job. He is in love with the nightclub singer May Daly, but she is in love with Alex Barton. Alex is the brother of her friend Alice, who is in love with Harry Norton. Meanwhile, Alex is unhappily married to Ann. Charley, Louis's replacement, suggests that Louis slip Alex a Mickey Finn. While trying to do so, Louis inadvertently drinks the Mickey Finn, falls asleep, and dreams he is King Louis XV of France, and that May is Madame du Barry.
In his dream, Charley becomes the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) and Harry becomes the captain of the guard, with Ann as Du Barry's lady-in-waiting, and Alex as a peasant who wrote a rude song about The King and Du Barry. Eventually after various entanglements (including the Dauphin shooting the King in the posterior with a bow and arrow), Louis wakes up and realises that Alex is the man for May. He uses the last of his winnings to pay for Alex's divorce from Ann, and (with Charley having just quit his job) goes back to being a washroom attendant.
Musical numbers[]
Act I
- "Where's Louie?" - Ensemble
- "Ev'ry Day's a Holiday" - Harry Norton, Alice Barton and Ensemble
- "It Ain't Etiquette" - His Most Royal Majesty, The King of France and Vi Hennessey
- "When Love Beckoned" - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
- "Come On In" - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and Ensemble
- "Dream Song" - Four Internationals
- "Mesdames and Messieurs" - Dames de la Coeur
- "Gavotte" - Alice Barton and Ensemble
- "But in the Morning, No!" - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and His Most Royal Majesty, The King of France
- "Do I Love You?" - Alex Barton and Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
- "Do I Love You" (Reprise) - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and Zamore
- "DuBarry Was a Lady" - Entire Company
Act II
- "Give Him the Ooh-La-La" - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
- "Well, Did You Evah!" - Alice Barton and Harry Norton
- "It Was Written in the Stars" - Alex Barton and Ensemble
- "L'Apres Midi d'un Boeuf" - Charley and Zamore
- "Katie Went to Haiti" - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and Ensemble
- "Katie Went to Haiti" (Reprise) - Alex Barton and Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
- "Friendship" - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and His Most Royal Majesty, The King of France